Policy detail or gossip?

  • 16 Jul

    Policy detail or gossip?

    16, Jul, 2010 (11:33 AM)

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    Like football, politics can be a dirty game with behind the scenes back stabbings and broken promises.

    It’s not new and it will happen again. Currently, we are being bombarded with news of the PM being accused of doing a double deal with Rudd which has taken the focus off policy detail from all of the political parties.

    The airing of a political party’s dirty washing may be of interest to the political junkies and editors.

    But at the end of the day - does the average voter want to make their decision on who to vote for based on behind the scenes political gossip or policy detail?


    Disclaimer: any personal details shared here are public and can be found on internet searches.

Comments (54)

  1. Rob Spencer - 7, August, 2010 (12:26)

    You're right when you say politics is a dirty game and attracts the worst of people mixed with the worst of situations. Julia has yet to explain how she allowed the BER to produce such a shocking result, how she explains her to and fro on ETS, how she will explain the money to be spent on NBN and her about-face on the mining tax. And now Kev is baaaack! Tony needs to stop me-tooing (eg the Redcliffe rail link, which will NEVER be built) and pin down more detail. I hate elections, maybe because I wish I could carry off such monumental lies and backflips with a such a straight face.

  2. Ian Cook - 6, August, 2010 (9:43)

    Congratulation to Everald Compton for his article in Seniors magazine about Refugees Caring, compassionate and responsible.

  3. Lorikeet - 31, July, 2010 (16:54)

    Rob Spencer:

    Let's hope that some of the younger women will listen to your words of wisdom.

  4. Rob Spencer - 29, July, 2010 (19:31)

    I don't believe the deal with Rudd is the issue. Politicians make and break deals to suit their own ends. The real issue in this election is the fact that Julia was a major party to the policies that helped bring Rudd down, and she is now scrambling to divorce herself from those decisions. Thsi is full of hypocrisy, and begs the question "how far can she be trusted"

  5. Lorikeet - 24, July, 2010 (13:42)

    Wiso:

    The Labor Party has not supported unions or workers for 30+ years. I am therefore quite flummoxed as to why unions keep giving them financial support at elections. I guess it must be because today's union leaders are communists.

    The primary goal of Labor is to corporatise everything and then expose us to Global Bank Rule, once they have finished flushing our national sovereignty down the toilet with their burgeoning foreign debt.

    A vote for Labor or The Greens is a vote for one big Green Slave Labor Party which supports corporatisation, wipes out the livestock industries (and our bank accounts) using a Carbon Trading Scheme and other more skulduggerous methods.

    In case anyone doesn't know, the Queensland Labor government recently gave huge sums of money to The Greens to get people onto a Low Carbon Diet which, by the way, does not contain any red meat.

    In my state electorate of Ferny Grove, Geoff Wilson MP made no secret of the fact he was giving $300,000 to Howard Nielsen (Greens) to get the people of Samford onto the Low Carbon Diet. It was printed, bold as brass, in his full colour newsletter.

    A vote for Labor or The Greens is a vote for the removal of the steak from your plate!

    If you wish to know what is happening to our farmers, I suggest you take a good look at Barnaby's Blog.

    As for the idea of voting for smaller conservative parties who actually care about the state of the nation, I would give that a big tick!

  6. Wiso - 24, July, 2010 (12:03)

    For those of you who are disenchanted with the major parties and intend to vote Greens, please make sure you know where your preferences are going otherwise your vote for Greens will be a vote for Labor. Vote for one of the conservative aligned smaller parties if you want a real change !! That way, we may get some real sense of 'moving forward'. I certainly don't want the world to see us as a morally corrupt country being represented by an unmarried, childless female who doesn't represent females in any favourable light. She can't be trusted and has no real policies on anything. She just says what she thinks the masses want to hear then immediately goes on to the next round of spin. What a disaster for Australia if we end up with her as our leader. Apart from Julia Gillard, the Labor party has no policy that will be good for this country. It will pander to the unions and minority groups and put resources towards their own pet projects, but forget what the majority of people and the country needs.

  7. Lorikeet - 23, July, 2010 (15:21)

    I also agree with ronda roy. Julia Gillard is no paragon of virtue or excellent example of womanhood. If we all followed her lifestyle, the human race would be driven into extinction.

  8. Lorikeet - 23, July, 2010 (15:16)

    I belong to a small political party, and am therefore aware that the national executive call all of the shots. They had to replace Rudd because he had a snowball's chance in hell of winning another election. Labor is hoping to pick up more female voters by putting a woman in the top job. No one should vote for any party pushing a Carbon Trading Scheme, which will only financially empower large corporations, not government or people. The Green Corporate Neo-Communists include The Greens, Labor, Liberals, Socialist Alliance and Liberal Democrats. I would suggest putting all of the smaller parties and individuals first, and then Liberals as a firewall between them and even worse GCNCs. If Labor is re-elected, they will form one big Green Slave Labor Party and crush us like cockroaches.

  9. Doug Richards - 21, July, 2010 (14:02)

    Gillard stabs Rudd. Abbott stabs Turnbull. And to it goes back through time. A case of accepting that is the way of politics and voting for who you dislike the least.

    Things shouldn't be this way but they are. Maybe vote for a poltician with principals - if you can find one.

  10. ronda roy - 20, July, 2010 (9:29)

    Call me an old fashioned grandmother, but I am totally opposed to electing a prime minister who lives in a defacto relationship and who previously lived with another member of her party. What an example to our children and grandchildren.

  11. Ralphe M de la Croix - 20, July, 2010 (0:24)

    I wish I could go away and live on a nice island somewhere. 5 weeks of being forced to seeing, listening and reading the rubbish and spin, baby kissing and shopping mall walkabouts fills me with dread. The facts are that JG was part and parcel of the stuff-ups and wastage of taxpayers money and no amount of closing ones eyes and ears will alter that. "Moving forward" (sic) as a nation to what? More of the same!!! Now she claims cabinet confidentiality when asked a simple question as to whether or not she objected or distanced herself from KR's policies. Yeah right. Bull dust. I simply cannot get the picture of her nodding approvingly to every crap policy and statement that dribbled out of Kevin mouth in parliament.

  12. Robert Chester-Master - 19, July, 2010 (13:12)

    It seems that the backroom labor party hacks have a penchant for stabbing the back. History
    shows that Hawke stabbed Hayden, Keating stabbed Hawke and when they got back in power,
    Gillard stabbed Rudd. Now we wait for Swan to do a job on Gillard. O happy days.

  13. Bill Kirk - 19, July, 2010 (13:00)

    While the prime importance should be a consideration of alternative policies, etc, the question is important if we are to be able to place any level of trust in our nation's leadership. If there is a doubt qabout that trust, it needs to be addressed & adequately responded to.

  14. Paul - 19, July, 2010 (10:42)

    Male or female we are all being taxed into the poor house by all politicians while they themselves continue to grant themselves pay rises. They do not care about the massive increases in the essential things such as electricity, water, car registration, CTP greenslips etc. that they are increasing all the time. People should start voting on these issues and not on their promises at election time.

  15. Faye McNeilly - 19, July, 2010 (9:51)

    I have had enough of the labour goverment and intend to vote for the green party

  16. David - 19, July, 2010 (9:21)

    I admire Kevin Rudd and what he attempted to achieve, not least in addressing education after the 11 years of damage under Howard and trying to get a fair return to the Australian people for their resources. I especially admire his attempt to give also to State Schools just a few of the facilities that our tax dollars have given to private schools over the years. The conservatives complain about the level of immigration but it was their education run-down that left Australia desperately short of skills and the need to attract increasing numbers of skilled workers. As for how Julia Gillard replaced Kevin Rudd, that is politics as practised by all the parties. The nonsense that the people elected Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister ignores the fact that ours is a Westminster system in which the Parliamentary party elects the party leader and, if in government, the Prime Minister.

  17. Marilyn - 19, July, 2010 (8:26)

    Well, that's politics! Let's just get on with solving the basic issues.

  18. Rob Spencer - 18, July, 2010 (16:45)

    Julia was part of the team of 4 that developed the policies that led to Kevin being stabbed in the back. How will she live that down? Also, she is radical left, who was put in power by the far right. How will she reconcile and pay THAT debt?

  19. John - 18, July, 2010 (15:27)

    Lets get over it and leave the politicians do what they do best. Lets not forget that Abbot wielded the knife to the leader of the Libs not so long ago. I have voted Liberal all my life until now.Abbott cannot be trusted with health & education. Think about it. At least the Labour party have got a policy on them. Its also about time that the miners paid back to this country for the pillaging of our natural resources. I for one welcome this decision. Give her a go.

    John

  20. Graham Sharpe - 18, July, 2010 (10:15)

    I would like to know just how the Labour Party policy has changed as the result of a change in leadership; and just what Gillard can (or will) do that Kevin Rudd could (or would) do. As an aside, I think Gillard should take elocution lessons - she has such a monotonous, whinging voice,

  21. Rob Spencer - 17, July, 2010 (20:24)

    Long knives or short knives are the weapons of politics.
    However, in this case, nothing changes. Julia Gillard was a key member of the policies that drew the knives; how will she reconcile her actions with a review of those policies.
    Heaps of hypocrisy.

  22. Georgina - 17, July, 2010 (18:12)

    Rudd's slogan was also "to move forward"!!! Forward to what? More spin and waste Gillard will stop at nothing to steal policies and try to distance hereself from the policies in which she was involved with Rudd. She has said that she will "do whatever it takes (to woo the voters). For one thing she doesn't know what having a family is all about - she can't possibly understand the trials many parents go through. And she doesn't know anything about mothers and/or fathers having to work to help pay for food and rent. She is all talk and no esperience. Experience counts more than rhetoric.

  23. Tony - 17, July, 2010 (15:19)

    Polatics are like a kids round-about and it would appear the kids are playing on it. If it goes fast enough and they do not have a grip some one is going to fall of.
    Voters must remember 'He that has not lived the past is deemed to repeet it'

  24. Alfred Jones - 17, July, 2010 (15:16)

    The United Kingdom and New Zealand have recently increased their equivalent of the GST.
    Is it possible for National Seniors Australia to ask the Politcal Parties, mainly Labor and the Coalition, if they intend to do the same, with emphasis that we would like a truthful answer, that they will stand by, for the length of their elected term.
    I feel that as regards to Seniors, this is important that we have the information before we we vote.

  25. Penny Giersch - 17, July, 2010 (15:03)

    I am so sick of the time wasted on political gossip. Just run the country, outline your policies and stick to them!

  26. Pamela - 17, July, 2010 (9:35)

    I agree with some of the comments, it is a shame the media runs this country we should not beleive what we read in the paper if they didn't keep on about Kevin Rudd none of this would have come about he tried things no body else would do like look after us pensioners,
    not his fault shonky people did the insulation if had known he would have fixed it
    As for Julia and Jhon Faulkner they would not betray a living sole so let the PM get on with the election and get over all the #$%& and think for our selves instead of following the press as gospel

  27. Jan Levett - 17, July, 2010 (9:15)

    I will be voting according to the policies put forward, not by the personalities involved. At this stage it definitely will NOT be Labour.

  28. Michael Fallon - 17, July, 2010 (8:58)

    Have we lost respect for confidentiality.
    I am not a Julia fan - but if it was confidential, then it wa confidential.
    Haven't we lost sight of the real issue - that this is simply history repeating itself - remember Julius Caesar "et tu brute"

  29. Lindy Cleeland - 16, July, 2010 (22:41)

    The average voter has the memory of a goldfish. They do not care who did what to whom in the school yard. They care about who seems most likely to get in and get things done for them.
    I agree that it great for a change for a politican - in this case PM Gillard sticking to her word not to speak of a subject.
    Laurie Oates's comments would indicate that he had first hand knowledge of the events. If there were 3 people in the room, Julia Gillard is not talking, John Faulkner is not talking - which one is left?

    As one writer indicated it was better then the Costello/Howard Wars or the Hawke/Keating wars. Also does anyone remember what happened to Mr Hayden when BOB wanted the job.

    PS. Unfortunately a vast number of Australian wouldn't know who the prime minister was and dont care.

  30. Neil - 16, July, 2010 (22:08)

    I have just read most of the blogs and I am amazed that most people are going down the Media controlled pathway -- generating histeria one way or another by playing upon emotions rather than common sense. (Prometheus and Robert M - prvious blogs) have hit it on the head. Politicians are manipulated by the media. I just wish that they would tell some of their interviewees' where to get off. Who could produce a workable policy in a week or two and why should we expect them to be able to - come on everyone ! lets get real and give politicians ( no matter what persausion) a chance to perform before expecting miracles and all the answers to lifes problems.

  31. Ray Gibson - 16, July, 2010 (22:05)

    It's not the Gossip that is important, it is what the disclosure of such events tells the Australian people about the integrity of the Prime Minister and her co-plotters. If she can't be trusted to keep a promise to the then Prime Minister on such an important matter, how can the Australian electorate trust her to keep any promise made during the election campaign? Kevin Rudd was a master of spin, and from what we have seen so far, Julia Gillard is shaping up to be a fine practioner of the same deceptive artform. Not another three years - please!

  32. Colin Ruehland - 16, July, 2010 (21:58)

    At the end of the day they were both party to all the blunders of the past. Insulation, Schools, climate change mining tax and the list goes on.

  33. John Arena - 16, July, 2010 (21:31)

    Politics can be a cruel game but it is about winning, and political leaders are elected and deposed on the basis of who offers the best chance of electoral success ;as much as some of us may wish otherwise, nothing else matters.

  34. Glenda Stripling - 16, July, 2010 (21:29)

    Laurie Oakes was the most interesting part of the Press Club address. Little wonder his question became a noteworthy event. Such a boring speech by Gillard, said nothing because in reality ALP having little to brag about. It must be getting tougher and tougher to keep the spin going. Their policies are still the same - all wind. I think the electorate have had enough and will show them the door.

  35. Dr Frank Johnson - 16, July, 2010 (21:21)

    Gillard and Rudd together supported the political decisions that the Federal Govt have made since Labor was elected. She was part of them all. Rudd made the career mistake of choosing his own cabinet rather kow-towing to the Labor factions and union leaders. Gillard was obviously, to me, a puppet of the factions. Now we have a return to Governmaant by Labor factions as we did with Whitlam and Keating. In my opinion if you have Jiula GillArd as a friend you do not need enemies. She is a very intelligent and savvy politician and is interested primarily in her own personal aggrandisement rather than in the best for the nation which she says she loves. I do not trust her. Tony Abbot is naive but I thinlk he is more honourable and has much more integrity.

  36. Brett Gray - 16, July, 2010 (19:08)

    I suspect Laurie Oakes' question was intended to be self serving and show he is still on the inside with Canberra gossip. I can't imagine he would have seriously expected Gillard to respond in any other way.

    The change was quick and ruthless, but if they can get their minds back on the real job, the speed might be preferable to the months of hostilities between Hawke and Keating and the years of cold war between Howard and Costello.

    Leadership challenges happen in all Parties. I believe they are not reflections of the integrity of the participants. For what it is worth, I believe most politicians across all Parties have a genuine desire to do something positive for the country; they disagree on how best to do it. We should certainly question what they do or how they do it, but we should at least respect them as decent people.

    Of course it would be a great example to us if they would show that sort of respect to each other in Question Time, but that might be asking too much...

  37. Marit - 16, July, 2010 (18:57)

    I don't have much faith any more in the political process, having been a member of a political party for over a decade and having witnessed X amount of nasty little stoushes. Its all about big egos and those who become drunk with power from what I can see. Although I must admit I was a bit shocked to wake up and find out that our Prime Minister had been "deposed", albeit in a so-called bloodless coup - as a coup it certainly was. Had to rub my eyes and wonder if I was not living in some South American banana republic. Because even though under the Westminster system we do not vote directly for the PM the position and the election campaign are becoming more presidential. The sheer ruthlessness of it was breathtaking. Not sure if it is an indication of who Gillard really is, or the depths to which the media driven politics have sunk to in this country.

    As for Julia Gillard, well she was probably sitting in the same room when much of the more unpopular moves Rudd made were hatched, and possibly was equally as responsible for some of the bad decisions. So what has changed? I personally think it is a big con, that nothing will really change, however in desperation the ALP felt they had to do something. So having Gillard become PM was viewed as the best option - do something radical like have a woman run the team. And it certainly worked in some quarters if the amount of gushing support she received from the feminist lobby is any indicator.

    However apart from taking a harder line on asylum seekers and backing down to the mining lobby are we actually seeing much really substantive policy changes?

    At the end of the day at least I got some cash in hand from Rudd in the form of those spending incentives. And I have to thank him for my new computer. I think that was the most I have ever got from any government. So he was not all that bad!

  38. Shaz Welsh - 16, July, 2010 (18:35)

    I would like to make a comment to jeanette elkner "grass" is legal in Canberra you are allowed 2 plants!!!! and as for what JG done to Rudd do you believe the media because I DON'T YOU GET DIFFERENT STORIES FROM DIFFERENT CHANNELS??

  39. Jennifer Rose - 16, July, 2010 (18:20)

    I admire Julia Gillard for not disclosing what happened. The lady is a " lady" and hopefully will continue to be so.
    Focus on the policies of the parties would be wonderful, not who has the dirtier mind and sharp tongue.
    There is an old saying that "Be nice to the people you meet going up the ladder for they are the same as the ones you meet going down."

  40. Jeanette Elkner - 16, July, 2010 (18:11)

    What happens behind the scenes is extremely important. It can tell us if that person is trustworthy, if that person's public personna is the 'real' person that is asking us to give him/her their vote, and so the list goes on. If Julia Gillard can give her word to someone, then change it within minutes, then my belief is that she cannot be trusted. If she wins the election, it will be by default, thanks to the Greens - yes the Greens who want to legalise 'grass' (amongst other strange policies). And what about the debacle and ridiculous figures put forward by Treasurer Swan in his new budget, a budget which is only 2 weeks after his original budget. Wake up Australia!

  41. Barry - 16, July, 2010 (18:01)

    Where I live in WA, I feel let us get rid of Canberra. Do away with federal politicians that sell us down the drain. Have strong local govt. Federal govt. is centralizing everthing to the ACT. Absolute Power, Corrupts Absolutely.

  42. Prometheus - 16, July, 2010 (17:46)

    Our representative government is hijacked by our fifth column fourth estate (aka the press), which dictates the spin on all political events. It is an anti-democratic group able to manipulate an electorate hooked on a soap opera view of life. Most electors would say that they get to vote for their PM, blanking out that they voted for their local representative. The press polls us on who the better PM, when we should be considering the ability of government programs to deliver positive outcomes for Australia in the short, medium and long term. The press leads us to the view that we need a strong leader. In agreeing, few of us, press included, stop to consider that strong leaders are dictators and control of the press is top of their priorities - so they can lead us of course. If we valued our democracy, we become more activist against for/against our local representatives on issues facing our communities: we wouldn't just gripe about government over our coffee or beer. But no, too many of us are content to base our views on press manufactured outrage over our PM's hair/clothing colour/style, living arrangements, speaking ability, etc. Policies take effort to understand, so condense them to a few sound bites and get on to the real news - sport and entertainment and who's doing what to who!

  43. ROBERT MASSEY - 16, July, 2010 (17:42)

    How much are we manipulated by the media and its owners. Who cares whether Julia didn't keep to her side of the bargain or not. At least she had the fortitude to tackle Rudd when it looked like Labour was going down the drain compared to Costello's weak efforts. Let's see what she can achieve.
    Though wouldn't it be refreshing if we had a real debate about issues rather than everything being opposed. Some bi-partisanship please.

  44. Des - 16, July, 2010 (17:35)

    After Howard, anyone would look good on the world or local stage. I used to turn off the TV or radio every time he appeared, he was an embarrassment and a disgrace. Did I say anyone? Tony Abbott is even more cringe-worthy. Bring back Turnbull if the Libs want to be a credible opposition!

  45. Lindsay John - 16, July, 2010 (17:35)

    Policies do matter but how can you believe in policies promoted by a leader and her deputy who have demonstrated their lack of ethics. Rudd was let down by poor implementation of the policies he promoted and then stabbed in the back by the very individuals that helped develop the same policies. Maybe the gossip is simply a further indication of the hypocrisy of the present leadership.

  46. William Parlet - 16, July, 2010 (17:30)

    Our current Prime Minister, like all our PMs, is a politician in the Westminster system. Both major parties play hard ball in caucus when selecting a leader. I am not personally interested in those antics but rather am concerned that the media continues to focus on personalities rather than policies. Clearly an election is not far away and as an elector I want to know the parties' positions on a number of key platform issues. When will the media focus on relevant issues?

  47. Ken Martin - 16, July, 2010 (17:15)

    Having worked it a Government Depasrtment for 30 years, it is sad to say that politicians and the truth are mutually exclusive. We always have to vote knowing that politicians will always say what wins votes at the expense of honesty.

  48. Louis Siedle - 16, July, 2010 (17:09)

    I agree with Dr Narielvala except that he could have added that no recent politician in this country possesses these attributes. All it takes to succeed is to be as cunning as a @#$% house rat!

  49. Jim Cone - 16, July, 2010 (17:03)

    Like a bad game of football: its about "forget about the ball and get on with the game." It is hard to take politics seriously given the present scenario.

  50. Dr F M Narielvala - 16, July, 2010 (16:51)

    Integrity, wisdom, vision and statesmanship are essential desiderata for a leadership role and these attributes are conspicuously absent in the current Prime Minister. It is a shame that such a person should be the first citizen of this country. It will be an embarrassment to see this PM represent this nation on the world stage ...

  51. Bill Pallister - 16, July, 2010 (16:42)

    There is no representative government in Australia. Having seen what has occurred recently in Federal politics, it is quite clear that ordinary people do not possess any power of influence.

  52. Clem J Collier - 16, July, 2010 (16:41)

    Irregardless what the reasons,It`s working,hence these blogs !

  53. elisabeth tier - 16, July, 2010 (16:37)

    And who lit this fire that is ensuring attention is diverted from the main event? Let's focus on the real election issues and not be diverted by this pathetic smokescreen.

  54. Lewis Degabriele - 16, July, 2010 (16:33)

    I cringe at the sheer hypocrisy of the PM and her deputy. Policies do matter but so does integrity.

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